Once, while driving in Trivandrum City, I saw a shop with a big banner: ‘Margin-free shop’. Presumably, they don’t keep any profit margin. On seeing that, you almost get the feeling that ‘profit’ is a dirty word. In fact, my daughter even...
Until 2012, I had gotten every job I wanted, and cracked every exam I had written. And then, finally, I failed. Miserably. My luck had finally run out. What followed was years of misery and frustration. And yet, from all that pain, emerged this beautiful truth: You...
In June 2001, when I was appointed the Trivandrum City Police Commissioner, I was a disaster waiting to happen – at least according to my then boss, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Southern Kerala. The lessons I learned from what happened next, saved me later...
What happened to me In 2012, when I quit my plush job with a billion-dollar private equity fund to do a startup, I was in a mad rush. And ironically, that rush to succeed is what cost me crores of rupees and a painful failure. To save a ton of grief and help launch...
A McKinsey colleague once told me a funny yet sad story of this old lady working at a client company. He had to meet her a few times with some data requests. Since she used to always appear busy and overworked, he asked her what her job was. Turns out, she used to...
